Associated PressElephants play with recently fallen snow in the zoo of Zurich, Switzerland.

I don't see how anyone could kill an animal in cold blood, cut off its limbs, and then sell the dismemberment.

Submitting teacher: Joan Vohl Hamilton

By JOSEPH GRABOWSKI Granby Jr. High

It is estimated that more than 4,000 African elephants die each year for there ivory, a substance that makes up their tusks and other teeth. This number is disgustingly high, especially when it is illegal to hunt elephants in Africa.

Joseph Grabowski

Hunting African elephants (Loxodonta africana) is wrong.

Elephants have no body part that we as humans absolutely need to survive.

If the elephants all die then the African habitat would suffer greatly.

Elephants are thought to be very smart mammals, like us, and would you kill a fellow human being for sport?

Ivory from elephants has been used to make piano and organ keys, and dominoes or what www.infoplease.com calls "minor objects of decorative value."

Recently, a woman in Minnesota was arrested and sentenced for illegally importing elephant parts as medicine.

It was also recently reported that soldiers in Zimbabwe were given elephant meat as their rations.

On an on-line store I saw a $675 elephant foot stool.

It was called a foot stool because not only could you put your feet on it, but its base was an elephant's foot!

I don't see how anyone could kill an animal in cold blood, cut off its limbs, and then sell the dismemberment.

Every creature plays a big part in the lives of others. If one creature is removed, the rest soon follow.

In the food chain, for example, eagles eat snakes, who eat mice, who eat grass.

Now if the snakes where to be hunted to extinction, the eagles would starve, and their prey, the mice, would thrive, thus eating all the grass.

Once the grass is gone, the mice will starve to death.

Elephants are herbivores in the food chain. Their movement and eating habits help spread seeds for germination in the bush and forests.

Elephants are a lot like us despite the fact African elephants are the largest land animal on Earth with their 10-foot trunks and weight of several tons.

These mammals live in herds and are said to mourn their dead, covering them with brush and staying with them for hours.

They have large brains which are said to be good at long-term and social memory.

Elephants have been taught to paint and they can store water in a pouch behind their tongue when they know they might not drink for several days.

If you are still OK with people killing a smart animal than consider this -- they are also like dogs, they can be taught to do tricks.

Ever been to a circus?

Next time you think of an elephant getting killed, think of a puppy!

Elephants have no parts humans need to survive but they are very important to the environment and they are smart. I hope I have enlightened you as to why they should not be hunted!